Coffee Connection wins $30,000 Matchstick Prize

The Coffee Connection, which provides employment training and job creation for women in recovery from addiction, won the first Matchstick Prize Friday from the Ad Council of Rochester and the Democrat and Chronicle Media Group.

The prize includes $5,000 cash and a $25,000 media buy from the media group.

The Coffee Connection sells fair trade, organic, sustainably grown coffee at its three retail locations and has 30 to 35 women working as interns or employees. The group estimates it has saved Monroe County $600,000 a year in benefits that would have been paid to the women it employs, said Ad Council CEO Todd Butler.